420 
THE AMERICAN-SCANDIN AVIAN REVIEW 
The man himself approached. The eyes of all waiting upon him, 
he strolled along talking to the sexton as if he were an ordinary mortal. 
Yet he had already acquired certain of the gestures that the parson was 
accustomed to make use of in the pulpit. 
The people gradually drew back from the road. One circumspect 
man dragged his gig away from the middle of the yard. The women 
took refuge on the landings of the barns. It was just as well to be on 
the safe side, but everybody wanted to see what was going on. 
Peter Lo unlocked the stable door and disappeared from view. A 
seven-fold thunder of neighing sounded from within, the halter rattled, 
heavy hoofs drummed against the floor, and the next minute a black 
barrel of a body appeared on the threshold. Skobelef flung his battle- 
cry to the four winds; Peter Lo was hurled aloft, but landed on his feet 
some distance out in the yard. Women shrieked. Old men jumped 
out of the way, hats flying right and left. Peter Lo and Skobelef 
started to dance around the yard. Skobelef snorted and foamed so 
that his dark body was dappled with froth; he had no mind to be led 
toward the gig; he reared, pummeled the air with his hoofs, and plunged 
from side to side, while a pair of shining boots kept cutting strange 
capers through space. It was an apocalyptic vision, something to 
dream about. The yard was swept clean of vehicles and people in a 
trice. It had been changed into a ball-room for Peter Lo and Skobelef. 
Peter Lo yelled at the stallion, and the stallion screamed at the uni¬ 
verse and at Peter Lo. On went the dance. Finally Skobelef seemed 
bound to enter the parsonage and have a chat with the preacher’s wife; 
but Peter Lo got ahead of him and planted his splendid boots with a 
resounding thump against the steps, so that Skobelef succeeded only 
in tearing down the railing. Peter Lo grew red in the face. Skobelef s 
whole body had become a mass of foam. The women gasped out shiv¬ 
ering sighs, “Oh, Oh!” 
At last the wild beast was forced between the shafts. As the reins 
were loosened he rose on his hind legs, and the lash fell on his neck; he 
pranced about on all fours with arched neck and flaring nostrils. Then 
Peter Lo’s wife came up, gathering her shawl around her shoulders, 
and—believe it or not—stepped calmly into the gig while the earth¬ 
quake was still going on. Now Peter Lo knew that the victory was his; 
he put his hand on the dashboard and leaped up beside his wife; the 
horse reared, his eyes shot fire, the foam flew, the whip cracked, and the 
next second the whole show dissolved in a cloud of dust rushing along 
beyond the farmhouses. 
We stood rooted to the spot. The other men began bashfully to 
hitch up their own horses. There was really nothing at all left to 
look at. 
From that day Skobelef was an influential personality through¬ 
out the parish. To tell the truth, Peter Lo and Skobelef took on 
